More background for China, and oil drilling near FL:::China, Others Drilling for Oil Off Florida
Friday , April 28, 2006
foxnews.com
This is a partial transcript of "The Big Story With John Gibson," April 27, 2006, that has been edited for clarity.
JOHN GIBSON, HOST: Wednesday I told you how China and other countries plan to drill for oil just off the Florida Straits. Check out this map. You see that area near Cuba? China's doing it. France is drilling there. So is Canada. But no American companies are allowed. Why? One senator who is trying to get lawmakers to pay attention to this issue, Sen. Larry Craig, joins us now.
Senator, that is kind of shocking, that there are no Americans out there in the Florida Straits. Why not?
SEN. LARRY CRAIG, R-IDAHO: Well, it's a fascinating anomaly of a 30-year-old foreign policy that said no business with Cuba period, end of statement, John.
And, of course, in the north Cuban basin that's exactly what's going on right now. Cuba is opening this up and allowing exploration and development of oil, 50 miles from the Florida coast.
And, of course, Florida has a prohibition all around its state for no drilling and, yet, here it is going on and no American company is allowed to go there.
GIBSON: Senator, the fastest shortcut around this problem, I would think, would be for the Republican president to call his brother, the Republican governor in Florida, and say, "Hey, we need to drill off Florida?"
CRAIG: Well, it isn't just that. That certainly would help if we could get the governor of Florida and Floridians to agree with it, but we would have to change our policy with Cuba. We have an agreement with other countries in the world and, of course, much of the oil that's developed around the world is developed by many of our companies.
But here we have a prohibition with doing any business with Cuba. I'm crafting legislation now that says we could go outside of our economic zones, if you will, and do business in this particular instance that would allow our companies to do the exploration.
We're the experts. We are the ones who know how to do it in an environmentally sound way. China is no expert and it could create an environmental problem there.
GIBSON: So you are saying that American companies should be allowed to deal with Cuba for oil but nothing else?
CRAIG: That's what I'm saying in this instance. I don't think the United States Senate is willing to buy off on a total relaxation of relations with Cuba. But clearly, here we are cutting off our nose to spite our face. If we drilled in the hemisphere, this hemisphere, the known deposits of oil, we could be producing now over two million barrels a day into our markets.
Instead, we are drilling in high-risk countries. We are dealing in areas that are politically very volatile and, of course, that's what's helped run up the price of gas or oil in the world market.
GIBSON: But isn't the shortcut here to drill off U.S. waters off a U.S. state, Florida, and for the Republican administration in Florida to help out the Republican administration in the White House by relaxing these state rules that prohibit drilling off Florida?
CRAIG: Well, you have got it. That would certainly help. I think the great fear I have is that if the Chinese drill right up against the line, they could slant drill into the Florida pool that we know is out there and drain out what is technically oil, crude oil of the United States.
Let's also share a higher royalty. Let's allow these states that are coastal states that have reserve offshore to share a larger part of the royalty that now flows to the federal government.
GIBSON: Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho, thanks very much. Appreciate it.
CRAIG: Thank you.
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Cuba Politics News and Information
havanajournal.com
US Embargo against Cuba allows China to drill 50 miles off Florida
Published: Fri April 28, 2006
By: Publisher in Cuba Politics > US Embargo
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Associated Press
China and a host of other oil-hungry nations will be tapping into huge offshore oil deposits a mere 50 miles from the United States while this nation is forced to endure rising gas prices as a result of record high demand for oil fueled by such countries as China and India. ?
According to Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, the U.S. energy sector has been “hamstrung” from seeking additional oil resources while at the same time allowing “the likes of China, Canada, Brazil, Spain, France and others to freely seek energy opportunities 50 miles off our coast without competition from state-of-the-art technologies and expertise of our own U.S. gas and oil industries.” ?
In a speech on the Senate floor, Craig said that a February 2005 U.S. Geological Survey report described “a possible deposit in the North Cuba Basin estimated at 4.6 billion barrels of oil, and possibly as much as 9.3 billion barrels.” He then reminded his colleagues “that estimates for Alaska National Wildlife Refuge range from 4 billion to 10 billion barrels.” ?
So, he said, “The question must be asked: ‘What is the U.S. doing while foreign companies and countries are exploring right off the U.S. coast in the North Cuba Basin, which is adjacent to the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf and contiguous with this country’s Exclusive Economic Zone?’? Well, I can firmly tell my colleagues that we are doing absolutely nothing. Not one single U.S. company is exploring in these potentially beneficial waters that extend to within 50 miles off the coast of Florida. So, we sit here watching China exploit a valuable resource within eyesight of the U.S. coast. I say—not on my watch.” ?
Craig added that he is “certain the American public would be shocked, as this country is trying to reduce our dependency on Middle East oil, that countries like China are realizing this energy resource.”
China, which he said is the world’s second-largest user of petroleum products “is using this area off our coast, and in Cuban national waters, as a strategic commodities reserve. It is doing this by acquiring exclusive rights in the emerging Cuban offshore oil sector—thereby forever closing the door on those resources to the U.S. industry and drastically impacting our foreign policy in the region.” ?
According to the Bush administration’s “National Security Strategy,” China is “expanding trade, but acting as if they can somehow lock up energy supplies around the world or seek to direct markets rather than opening them up.” ?
A shocking report aired on the Lou Dobbs show Thursday night revealed that Cuba has not only allowed China to drill but also to service an old Soviet refinery in Cuba while U.S. companies are locked out of the game. The Dobbs report also revealed that Venezuela’s Castroite president, Hugo Chavez, has offered Chinese oil firms operating rights in his country.? ?
Craig wants to introduce legislation that will allow the United States to operate in these waters off our southern coast, adding that we cannot allow China to lock up a potentially lucrative oil supply for life in our own backyard. |
